Throughout the war, Australia was committed to the Allies, an international military coalition to oppose the Axis powers. As a British dominion, alongside Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, Australia had been involved in pre-war planning before the declaration of war on 3 September 1939.
With personnel heavily committed in the South-West Pacific Area from 1942, Australia remained at war until Japan's official surrender on 2 September 1945.
Nearly 1 million people served in the Australian armed services (Navy, Army, Air Force) or Merchant Navy during World War II. Some 32,000 were made prisoners of war in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region and more than 39,000 had lost their lives by the war's end.
On Sunday 3 September 1939 at 9:15 pm, Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies announced on radio that Australia was at war with Germany. It would be 6 years before Australia was at peace again.
Fellow Australians, it is my melancholy duty to inform you officially, that in consequence of a persistence by Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her and that, as a result, Australia is also at war. No harder task can fall to the lot of a democratic leader than to make such an announcement.
[Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies' speech on 3 September 1939: Screensound Australia, National Screen and Sound Collection, Screensound Title No: 387919]
Listen to the full Declaration of War (1939) audio.
Watch The Voice of Australia (1939) newsreel to see what else Menzies told Australians at the time.
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Glossary
- Allies
- Axis, the
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